Superannuation isn’t exactly one of those words that gets you excited. Usually the first thought when people hear the word is ‘I’ll deal with it later’. For some of us, we won’t be accessing our super for another 30 to 40 years, that’s a lifetime away! When you’re hardcore saving for a holiday or your first home, dealing with super just seems unimportant. Well my friends I am here to tell you it is and it’s easy.

Sorting out your super now is the difference between having ‘smashed avo and fetta toast’ versus beans and rice when you retire. Think about your lifestyle today. Shut your eyes and make a mental list of the regular habits you afford yourself outside of your work.

Do you buy lunch?
Do you workout at the gym or play any social sports?
Do you host dinner parties or have friends around for board game nights?
Do you like adventuring around the different hotspots where you live?
Do you love buying certain brands of clothing?
Do you like to Netflix and chill?

This lifestyle doesn’t end because you get ‘old’. In fact, people often gain a second lease on life when they retire. We all know a grandparent somewhere in our lives who is doing most of the above. Sorting out your super now is crucial to making sure that your lifestyle doesn’t bottom out once you finish work, rather you get to continue living the life you enjoy.

The idea is, you want to build money within your super fund so that you can live off it when you finish working. This is important to address now because there are many things that could be affecting the ‘building’ phase of your super. If you have multiple super funds, that’s multiple sets of fees detracting from your super balance. If it’s invested, it could be invested in a way that is too risky or too safe.

How good does it feel when you actively save money? You feel like an adult who has their life in order. If you haven’t had the experience of saving money, reflect back to a time where you did something that benefited future you. This is what your super is. When you get your next super statement, check out the balance. That balance is a result of you working hard and your employer putting money away for your retirement. Give yourself a high five, go you.

Imagine you're building a brick wall, you build ten bricks high and then someone comes along overnight and takes away two bricks. The next day another ten bricks high and then another two bricks taken away. This goes on for weeks, but you don’t really notice as it’s only two bricks a day. Months have gone buy and you were supposed to have finished the wall and it should have been much much higher by now. Had you have checked in on the first day you could have bopped the brick thief on the head and avoided having a short wall when it was too late. This is just like super, if you address it now you can do things that reduce the bricks being taken away, making sure you have enough when you need it.

So pop on your hard hat and start digging. Here are three things you can do right now to start building your brick wall:

MyGov (https://my.gov.au) - Register for MyGov and find where your super is.
ASIC MoneySmart (https://www.moneysmart.gov.au) - Read up on the ins and outs of super.
Ask for help - Call Caboodle Financial Services on 1300 652 944.

Because dealing with it later, always ends up being too late.